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02 August 2012

Tips for Successful Breastfeeding {#BFBlogHop}

World Breastfeeding Week started yesterday and runs through the 7th. In the US, breastfeeding rates are still lower than what they should be {though they have slowly risen} see the CDC's Breastfeeding Report Card-United States, 2012.

What are some things you can do to help increase breastfeeding in the United States?

If you're pregnant, write a birth plan and specify you want to hold the baby immediately after he's born and try breastfeeding within the first hour. Prepare freezer meals before giving birth. Look to see if there is a breastfeeding friendly hospital near you and go there.

If you're a father, be supportive of the decision to breastfeed. Offer to get water and food each time your wife sits down to nurse.

If you're currently breastfeeding an infant, feed on demand. Wear your baby. Eat and drink-don't starve yourself. Get sleep. Cosleep. Do not second guess about whether you will be successful or not; don't say "if."

If you have a friend who recently had a baby, offer to make and bring a meal for your friend and her family. Offer to clean and watch her children. Call before coming over.

This list is not exhaustive, but will hopefully help you think of a few things.

8 comments:

These are great suggestions! I completely agree about bringing a meal to a breastfeeding friend with a new baby. It is so hard to do anything but breastfeed in those early weeks! But yes, definitely call, or you might find me in my pajamas with no bra on and my hair a mess ;) ~Melissa

One tip I wish I could go back and share with myself back when I had my first baby... Nurse ALL THE TIME at first! It's supply and demand and you WILL have enough milk. Just keep nursing and trust your body. :)

Great tips. Thank you for sharing. I breast fed my Princess until she was 2. And now I am breastfeeding my Little Man. It is so great for their brain development, and bonding/attaching with me. I love it.

These are definitely great tips. Co-sleeping while I was breastfeeding really saved my sanity. If I had to get up every time my baby wanted to nurse, I would have been one exhausted Mama {well, even more exhausted than I was}! ;)

I am a Christian and a wife to an amazing husband, a mum to a 2nd grader, a 3 year old son, and an unborn son. I am homeschool SAHM. I write about knitting, breastfeeding, reading, cooking, baking, crafting, cloth diapering, and babywearing.